Card table



e 16, 193e. GfL. MOQRE 2,0445@ CARD TABLE Filed April 50, 1954 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 f f wfg@ n Z3 4Z DI Z5' 22 Patented `inne 16, 1936 11 Claims.

My invention relates to tables, and especially folding card tables, although I contemplate that many features of my invention may be applied to tables other than card tables and to tables with 5 fixed legs.

One object of my invention is concerned with an improved frame or lateral rail for a card table especially where the top panel and the lateral frame are arranged to reinforce each other; and

also wherein the assembly is greatly simplified and where the metal parts may be dipped in the enamel before assembly and a minimum of touching up of parts with enamel is required after the assembly is completed.

Another object of my invention is concerned with dressing up and reinforcing of the corner joints of the rail frame.

A still further object of my invention is an improved pivotal mounting and lock for the folding legs of a card table.

The foregoing features and advantages of my invention, as well as the structural details of a preferred embodiment of my invention, are set forth in the following description of a specific embodiment thereof as illustrated in the accompanying drawings wherein:

Fig. 1 is a perspective View of my completed card table except that it has no corner jackets;

Fig. 2 is a vertical section taken on the line 2 2 of Fig. l through the leg pivot;

Fig. 3 is a plan section taken on the line 3 3 of Fig. 2 showing the leg pivot;

Fig. 4 is a vertical section similar to Fig. 2, but showing the leg in its folded position;

Fig. 5 is a horizontal section taken on the line 5 5 of Fig. 4 showing a detail of the locking clip for holding the leg in its folded position;

Fig. 6 is an enlarged fragmentary View of the near corner of the card table of Fig. 1;

Fig. 7 is a diagrammatic plan on an ensmalled scale, illustrating the assembly of the rail frame;

Fig. 8 is a perspective view of the near corner of the card table and similar to Fig. 6, except that it shows the addition of a corner finishing and reinforcing jacket;

Fig. 9 is a similar perspective view of the jacket itself, taken at a slightly different angle;

Fig. lllis a fragmentary view similar to Fig. 2, but including the corner jacket, and

Fig. 1l is a plan section taken on the line I l-l l of Fig. l0.

My card table as here illustrated comprises chiefly a top l5, a rail frame i5 and folding legs l1. Referring to Fig. 2, the rail frame is of double channel form and comprises an inwardly facing upper channel i8 and an inwardly facing lower channel lll interconnected by a vertical web 2B at the inner edge of the channels I8 and I9. The lower and upper horizontal Webs of the upper and lower channels E8 and I9 respectively, together with the vertical web 2|) form a secondary or intermediate outwardly facing channel.

The top l5 comprises a stiff backing, such as a plywood panel 2|, with a superposed cushioning pad of felt 22 and a surfacing sheet 23, such as fabrikoid or other coated fabric. The edges of the fabric are extended around the edges of the panel 2l and lightly tacked, as by the tacks 24, to the underside of the panel near its edge. The felt pad 22 preferably terminates the distance inwardly from the edge of the panel corresponding to the width of the top flange of the channel IB. As the flange of the channel is of substantially the same thickness as the felt pad, when the edge of the panel is inserted in the channel I8, the field of the fabric 23 comes flush with the top surface of the upper flange of the channel I8.

I prefer, instead of forming the side rails It on the frame of rolled double channel stock, to stamp them from sheet stock into the desired lengths. In this way not only are the four horizontal flanges of the rail i6 formed with a mitered joint, as indicated at 25 in Fig. 6, but the web 20 carries a terminal Ll-degree offset 26 (Figs. 3 and 6) which abuts in surface Contact the similar terminal offset of an adjacent frame section. The mating offsets 2li may easily be secured together by rivets 21 to assemble the sections. As indicated somewhat diagrammatically in Fig. '7, I prefer to assemble the previously enamelled frame sections first in pairs and bring the pairs together into the assembled relation with the top, whereupon the remaining corners are secured together by their rivets 21. After assembly the upper and lower horizontal flanges of the upper channel i8 are pressed or rolled together (without marring the enamel or injuring the fabric 23) more tightly to clamp the edge of the panel between the parallel flanges. The rail frame and the panel thus constitute rigidly attached reinforcing flanges for each other, the panel reinforcing each rail against torsion especially. The wood filling of the channel I8 itself greatly strengthens the channel.

The offsets 26 permit the assembly riveting to be done entirely from the outside without the more cumbersome expedient of applying a riveting tool or backing anvil on the inside of the frame. My offsets 26 and rivets 21 secure the rail sections together directly at the corners, whereas the usual reinforcing strips at the inside corner are necessarily riveted some distance back from the corner and permit weaving of the corner joint to develop. The rivets 21 may be well spaced vertically to resist development of torsional rocking at the corner joint.

The legs il are preferably hollow and square in cross section and formed from a single piece 60 of sheet metal, which is seamed by the butt joint 28 shown in Fig. 3. For pivotally mounting the legs upon the rail frame I6, I prefer to employ an L-shaped bracket 29 one flange of which is secured to the web 20 by rivets 30, the other flange lying in parallelism with the web 20 of the adjacent rail section I6 and spaced therefrom by the width of the leg I1. The pivot pin 3l passes through the web 2D and holes near the back side of the leg and therebeyond is shouldered to pass through the bracket 29 over which it is peened. The pivoting of the leg is so arranged that when it is down, the forward face of the leg cornes flush with the inner side of a web 20.

For locking the leg in its down position I provide a single leaf spring 32 of a width just fitting the inside width of the leg, and bent into a U-shape. One end of the U-shaped spring 32 is hooked over the pivot pin 3 I. To the other end there is riveted an outwardly directed bulletshaped locking pin 33 which passes through a close-fitting hole 34 in the forward side of the leg and also through a registering hole 35 in the adjacent vertical web 26. The locking pin 33 thus holds the holes 34 and 35 in registry and thereby prevents the swinging of the leg. To release the leg to permit it to be swung up, the nose of the pin 33 is pressed inwardly by the thumb and the leg swung up. The rounded forward surface of the locking pin 33 then engages the margin of the hole 35 and cams the pin 33 farther inwardly fully to withdraw it from the hole 35 and permit the complete upswinging of the leg. As the leg is swung upwardly, the spring 32 again pushes the pin 33 as far outwardly through the hole 34 as possible, which is its normal position.

For holding the leg in its upward position I employ any suitable clip, such as L-shaped clip 36 illustrated in Figs. 4 and 5. One flange of the clip 36 lies against the inside surface of the adjacent vertical web 20 and is secured thereto by rivets 31. The other flange of the clip 36 extends inwardly from the web 20 and has slightly dished concave portion 38 which is adapted to snap over and hold the convex bottom 39 of the leg which also serves somewhat as a furniture glider when the leg is down.

It will be observed that the locking pin 33 is substantially at the same plane, transversely of the leg, as is the pivot pin 3 I. The result is that as the leg tends to swing about the pivot 3| the consequent movement of the pin 33 will be transverse to its axis, that is, in the plane of the vertical web 26. This gives a direct shearing strain upon the pin 33 without any axial component. If the pin 3| were located much higher or much lower than the pin 33, there would be a substantial axial component to the initial swinging movement of thepin 33, which would tend to cam the pin out of the hole 35 in the web 20.

In the drawings I have shown the pin 3I so located that not only does the tendency of the leg to swing present a complete shearing strain upon the pin 33, but, after the upper corner of the leg has been rounded 01T to provide for the clearance by the corner of the leg of the inner surface of the web 26, there is Still sufficient stock left on the top side of the hole 34 adequately to reinforce the hole.

In quantity production there is apt to be some inaccuracy in the exposed mitered joints 25 (Fig. 6) and in the mating of the offsets 25. Also, as previously mentioned, the rivets on the two corners which are assembled after the top is in place, if left exposed, would require re-touching. To

cover up these possible joint imperfections, to avoid the necessity of touching up operations on the last-assembled corner rivets and on the eX- posed heads of certain of the pivot pins 3|, further to reinforce the joints and, in general, to improve the appearance of the table and protect the salient corners against marring or chipping of the enamel,-I prefer to employ polished or plated metal corner jackets 40. These are i1- lustrated in Figs. 6, 8, 9, 10 and 11. In general, they jacket all of the exposed surfaces of the rail frame adjacent the corners. Consequently, in cross section, each jacketfollows the general cross section and contour of the frame rail which it jackets, and includes an upper channel 4I and lower channel 42, and an interconnecting vertical web 43. It also has, in plan section (Fig. l1) a narrow U-shaped angular offset 44 which embraces the mating oisets 26. Suitable embossings 45 are provided to accommodate the heads of the rivets 21 and a similar embossing 46 is provided on each jacket 40 to accommodate the head of the pivot pin 3l. An aperture 41 is also provided to register with the holes 34 and 35 through which the locking pin 33 protrudes. The jacket is slipped onto the corner of the frame in a direction diagonal thereof and it is secured thereto in part by the coaction of the embossings 45 with the rivets 21 and partly by downward offsets 48 and upward offsets 49 at the top and bottom, respectively, which snap over the inner edges of the top ange of the channel I8 and of the bottom flange of the channel I9, respectively.

While I have thus described this specific embodiment of my invention, I contemplate that many changes and substitutions may be made without departing from the scope or spirit of my invention.

I claim:

1. A lateral frame section for a card table or the like, of the length of a side of the table and stamped from sheet metal and comprising in vertical cross section an upper inwardly facing channel, a. lower inwardly facing channel and a vertical web interconnecting the channels and disposed in the plane of the inner edges of the channels and connected to the adjacent ilanges of the channels, the vertical web portion being offset 45 degrees at each end and the flanges of said channels being mitered in the vertical plane of said offsets.

2. A lateral frame member for a card table comprising a single sheet of metal bent to form a longitudinally extending inwardly facing channel adapted to receive the edge of the top and a depending vertical flange connected to the inner edge of the bottom flange of said channel, said depending flange being offset outwardly at 45 degrees at each end to form a face-to-face mitered contact with the corresponding offset ange of a similar section arranged at degrees to the first mentioned section, the horizontal flanges of said channel being cut at a 45-degree miter at each end in the plane of said oiset.

3. A card table comprising a flat rectangular top panel, and a set of four lateral frame sections, each section comprising an inwardly facing channel embracing one edge of the panel and a vertical flange depending from the lower horizontal flange of the channel and spaced inwardly from the web of the channel, the channels of the respective sections meeting at the corners of the panel in mitered joints, and the depending flanges of the sections having, at the ends thereof, mating outwardly and angularly directed offset portions, and means passing through said offset portions to fasten them together to assemble the sections into a marginal frame for the top with the top locked within said channels.

4. A card table frame comprising a set of four lateral frame 4sections each being formed from a single piece of sheet metaland comprising, in vertical cross section, an upper inwardly facing channel having spaced horizontal flanges and an interconnecting outer web, and a lower inwardly facing channel having spaced horizontal flanges and an interconnecting outer web, in the vertical plane of the vertical web of the upper channel, and an interconnecting vertical web between the channels and spaced inwardly from said first mentioned webs, the horizontal flanges at each end being mitered at 45 degrees and the third mentioned or interconnecting web having a terminal portion at each end extending outwardly in the plane of said miter, each section being joined at its mitered ends with adjacent sections, to constitute a rectangular frame, and fastening means passing through and securing together said mitered portions of said flanges to hold them together in surface contact and thereby hold the frame sections assembled, the sections being assembled With the margins of the top panel embraced in the respective upper channels.

5. A card table frame comprising a set of four lateral frame sections each being formed from a single piece of sheet metal and comprising, in vertical cross section, an upper inwardly facing channel having spaced horizontal flanges and an interconnecting outer web, and a lower inwardly facing channel having spaced horizontal flanges and an interconnecting outer web, in the vertical plane of the vertical web of the upper channel, and an interconnecting vertical web between the channels and spaced inwardly from said first mentioned webs, the horizontal flanges at each end being mitered at 45 degrees and the third mentioned or interconnecting web having a terminal portion at each end extending outwardly in the plane of said miter, each section being joined at its mitered ends with adjacent sections, to constitute a rectangular frame, and fastening means passing through and securing together said mitered portions of said flanges to hold them l together in surface contact and thereby hold the frame sections assembled, the sections being assembled with the margins of the top panel embraced in the respective upper channels, and a corner jacket for each corner of the frame comprising a single sheet of metal formed to the outer conformation of the assembled frame corner and extending a spaced distance along each section from the corner.

6. A card table comprising a rectangular top panel, a marginal frame therefor comprising a section extending along each edge of the panel, each section comprising an inwardly facing channel embracing the edge of the panel and a vertical flange depending from the channel and spaced inwardly from the web of the channel, the channels being mitered at their ends to form mitered corners for the frame and the webs being angularly offset at the corners into mutual parallelism.

7. A card table comprising a rectangular top panel, a marginal frame therefor comprising a section extending along each edge of the panel, each section comprising an inwardly facing channel embracing the edge of the panel and a vertical flange depending from the channel and spaced inwardly from the web of the channel, the channels being mitered at their ends to form mitered corners for the frame and the webs being angularly offset at the corners into mutual parallelism, and rivets passing therethrough to assemble the sections.

8. A card table comprising a rectangular top panel, a marginal frame therefor comprising a section extending along each edge of the panel, each section comprising an inwardly facing channel embracing the edge of the panel and a vertical flange depending from the channel and spaced inwardly from the web of the channel, the channels being mitered at their ends to form mitered corners for the frame and the webs being angularly offset at the corners into mutual parallelism, and corner jackets embracing the salient corners of the frame and following the conformation thereof to reinforce and dress the corners.

9. A corner jacket for a card table or the like formed from a single sheet of stamped metal and comprising vertically spaced upper and lower inwardly facing channels L-shaped in plan, a vertical web interconnecting the channels and spaced inwardly from the outer faces thereof, said web, in plan, including wing portions disposed at substantially 90 degrees to each other, and an interconnecting U-shape portion disposed at 45 degrees to the wing portions.

10. A card table comprising a rectangular top panel, a marginal frame therefor comprising a side rail section extending along each edge of the panel, each side rail section comprising an upper inwardly facing channel, a lower inwardly facing channel and a vertical web interconnecting the channels and disposed in the plane of the inner edges of the channels and connected to the adjacent flanges of the channels, the edges of said panel being received and gripped between the flanges of the upper channels of the side rail sections, and corner members receiving the extremities of the side rail sections, each of said corner members having extremities, disposed at right angles to each other, which are of substantially the same vertical section as said side rail sections, with the inner surface of each corner member channel nesting with the outer surface of the corresponding channel of a contiguous one of said side rail sections, the vertical webs of the corner members having face toface contact with the corresponding Webs of their associated side r rail sections, and means for retaining said corner members and said side rail sections in the herein recited relationship.

11. A card table comprising a rectangular top panel, a marginal frame therefor comprising a side rail section extending along each edge of the panel, each side rail section consisting of a single piece of metal conformed to present a plurality of vertically spaced inwardly facing channels, the edges of said top panel being received and gripped between the flanges of the upper channels of the side rail sections, and corner members receiving the extremities of the side rail sections, each of said corner members having extremities, for engagement with contiguous side rail sections, which are of substantially the same vertical section as said side rail sections, with the inner surface of each corner member channel nesting with the outer surface of the corresponding channel of a contiguous one of said side rail sections, and securing means for retaining said corner members and said side rail sections in the herein recited relationship.

GEORGE L. MOORE. 

